The Sorrows of Intertwined Lives
by XxXMidnightAmantXxX
Summary: Companion story to Lara's Story: READ Lara's Story FIRST! Follow Lara McAvoy in her adventures once again as her sister, Ana is introduced for the first time. Life within the Kejin is never safe for long, is it... please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**OOC: This is the prequel to Lara's Story. READ THAT ONE FIRST!  
In Lara's story, The Sorrows of Intertwined Lives would have gone directly after the first flashback in chapter one. But 1) there are too many sub-plots and would have been way too confusing to read. And 2) I'm not done this story yet.  
Happy reading!**

**1**

**2 MONTHS LATER**

Stefan knocked on Lara's door. They were on better terms now, though they did have uncomfortable, awkward moments sometimes. Lara answered the door.

"Hey Stefan, what's up?" She asked. She had lost weight, and there was a hint of sorrow in her eyes.

"Let's go to the Coffee House. There's someone I want you to meet, and you definitely need to get out more." Stefan said. Lara sighed.

"Alright, I'll be out in a minute. Just let me get changed. Come on in." Lara was in sweats, and her hair was messy. Stefan walked inside, closing the door behind him while Lara walked into her bedroom, closing her door, as she got dressed. A few moments later, Lara walked out in a white blouse and blue jeans. Stefan noticed the locket she wore around her neck. Stefan had given it back to her the night she'd found out her mother had died. He noticed a bracelet on her wrist.

"Your bracelet's nice." He said, pointing to it. Lara smiled sarcastically.

"Thank The Boss. He gave it to me. There's a tracking device in it. If I go out and don't wear it, they make me come back in here and put it on." She said.

"Oh…" Stefan really didn't know what to say. They passed Kejin security on the way out, and walked to the Coffee House, commenting on the weather; anything so there would be no awkward silence.

When they walked in, Lara saw the person he wanted her to meet right away. It wasn't because of the fact she smiled at Stefan and he waved to her. Lara carefully kept her expression free of shock and surprise as they walked over. The girl didn't though. She gaped at Lara as she sat down across from her and Stefan, who had seated himself beside the other girl. They way they held hands, glanced at each other; Lara could tell that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Lara resisted the urge to laugh. They ordered breakfast and drinks and Stefan made introductions.

"Ana, this is Lara. Lara, meet Ana." Ana's expression became confused as she reached across the table to shake Lara's hand in greeting.

"So… where did you guys meet?" Lara asked, trying to keep conversation light. She saw Ana smile, trying to hide a laugh. Everything about Ana was just as familiar as before; but she couldn't let Stefan know that.

"It was during one of his assignments." Ana whispered, obviously not wanting anyone else to hear. "He needed to stay in an apartment to wait for the person in the one next door to leave. He knocked on mine and explained that he was an undercover CIA agent. I let him in, and we talked." Ana shrugged. "Some way to meet someone, huh?" She asked. Lara forced a laugh, just passing for it being genuine.

Stefan looked from one girl to the other. "You two look a lot alike, I just realized." He laughed, kind of embarrassed. "Uh… do you two already know each other?" he asked Lara. She could see Ana going to nod her head and interrupted her.

"Uh, no… we're not. We do look a lot alike, though don't we?" She asked. She wrote down her number and gave it to Ana.

"Give me a call. Don't tell the operator who you are." Lara smiled at Stefan and stood up. "See you." She left the Coffee House.

* * *

Back at the organization, Lara stormed into her room. She sat on her couch, her head in her hands. She felt as though her world had been turned upside down.

"Ana… what have you done?" Lara said to the empty room. The phone rang, and she let the voice mail pick up.

"Agent Lara McAvoy, you are to report to training in 5 minutes. Goodbye." The automated voice clicked off. Lara groaned and went to her bedroom, changed into her training clothes.

"What am I going to do? You ruined everything, Ana. It'll be even harder to keep you safe now." She whispered the last bit quietly. There was a knock at the door. Lara jumped and slowly walked to the door, trying to gain her breath. She opened the door to see Kelly, a person she trained with, at the door.

"Hey, Lara. Time for training." Kelly smiled. But as always, that smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." She closed the door behind her and walked with her friend to the training room.

**OOC: I will get the next chapter to you all as soon as I can. Maybe sometime next week thursday or friday. Most likely sooner, but we all have lives, right? So who knows... LOL**


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

A week later, Lara was sitting in her room, when the phone rang. She picked up, and the operator came on the line. "Would you like to accept a call from Anastasia Petrovsky?" Lara smiled at the use of the fake name. "Yes." The operator patched Ana through and clicked off.

"Hello, Ana." Lara sighed wearily.

"Don't act all self righteous to me. I can't believe you told him we weren't sisters." Lara could hear the tremble in her sister's voice.

"I'm not. I just didn't think you'd call back." Lara said quietly.

"Why did you lie to Stefan? You've been pushing me away ever since dad died. I —"

Lara interrupted her. "Wait. Is that really what you think?" When Ana didn't respond, Lara continued, "I can't believe you think that! I wrote you letters in Venice, but Mother burned every single one of them before I could get them to you. Mother didn't want me talking to you at all. Why else —"

"Oh don't give me that." Ana scoffed.

"I need to talk to you. Face to face."

"I… I don't know about that."

"Come on Ana… same place where we met with Stefan," Lara stood up to check her calendar, "Two days from now. Please. I need to explain why I did what I did."

There was a pause as Ana thought it over. "Fine, we'll meet there at one o'clock. See you then." Lara couldn't think of what to say next, but Ana saved her the trouble. All Lara heard was a dial tone.

* * *

Later on, Lara decided to eat dinner in the cafeteria. She felt Stefan sit across the table from her.

"I'm sorry about last week. I knew you were uncomfortable. I just… wasn't really paying attention." Stefan said.

"Its fine, Stefan, really." Lara said. Lara gave a false smile. "I don't want to talk about it. Um… do you think Kane will be ok?" Lara asked. As soon as she left the training room, she had washed Kane's blood from her hands until they were burning red. She didn't want to deal with this right now. She had a hard training session with Kane, and she'd snapped, landing Kane into the hospital.

**EARLIER**

"_Come on, McAvoy. Put your heart into it." Kane said sarcastically as they circled each other._

"You're not worth my time Kane." Lara rolled her eyes. The Boss walked into the room, observed them. 

"_C'mon, Lara… your mother wouldn't want you to give up, would she? Well… how would you know anymore? You mother's dead." There was a collective gasp from the room. Others had come to watch. Stefan stepped forward._

"That was way out of line, Kane. You had no right –" Stefan was cut off by Lara.

"_It's alright Stefan. Kane wants a fight? He'll get one."_

There was anger in Lara's eyes. She dashed toward Kane, aiming a punch at his shoulder. He easily dodged it, landed a chop to her jaw. But she was already down and rolling to the side, his arm missing her head and whistling through the air. She swept her legs into his, and he fell forward onto his hand and knees. She jumped to her feet and kicked him in the ribs fast and hard. He inhaled sharply, grunted in pain. She let him stand up, and he did, slowly, holding a hand to his ribs.

"You'll pay for that, bitch." His deep breaths puffed out his cheeks with each exhalation.

"Come and get me, then. Make me pay." Lara didn't care. She was in a blind rage, shaking with it. Kane came at her, and all she felt was a harsh pain in her jaw and her leg. She fell to the ground, and connected with Kane's leg when he kicked out at her. Kane dropped to the ground, off balance, and fell on top of Lara. He grabbed her neck with his hands, squeezed. She bucked, and used the momentum to be the one on top. His hands loosened their grip on her neck. She straddled him, punched him repeatedly in the face, and warmth flooded over her hands. Suddenly, hands grabbed her arms, hauling her off Kane.

"Stop Lara. It's done." Stefan whispered in her ear, as Lara struggle din his arms.

"Leave me alone! He should never have talked about my mother like that. Are you hearing me, Kane?" She all but shouted. "You talk about my mother like that again, and I will kill you like you killed her!" Kane groaned. 

"_Stop now, Lara. Shhh…" Stefan said. There were tears in Lara's eyes now. Stefan drew her away from Kane, off of the mats. The crowd surrounding the mats now dispersed, as The Boss set them to their jobs._

"Someone get this ridiculous boy to a hospital." He said to the room at large. Two men ran out of the training room. Kane groaned, blood coming out of his broken nose. The two guys came back, with a paramedic and a nurse. They carried Kane away on a stretcher.

"I… I need to go." Lara said, as she ran out of the training room. It was only then that she realized that she had Kane's blood on her hands.

_**End of flashback**_


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

Lara rushed around her room, getting ready to meet Ana at the Coffee House. She was going to be late, and Lara cursed herself for not being more prepared. Training with Kelly, another agent, had gone longer than expected. She shoved her feet into her boots and grabbed her coat, running out the door.

Lara knew that Ana wasn't there the moment she walked into the Coffee House, but she scanned the place anyway. Ana was always one for punctuality, so this bothered Lara. She sat down in one of the booths for privacy and waited. As her cell phone rang, Lara started to get that cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. She answered it immediately.

"Ana? Where are you?" Lara demanded. She regretted choosing to meet Ana at a place so close to the Kejin.

"… I… I'm at the corner of Oxford and Wellington." Lara felt dizzy. It was just a few blocks away. Her sister's voice sounded really strange, and she heard Ana moan in pain.

"I'll be right there. Stay where you are." Lara said as she hung up and ran out of the Coffee House. She dialled a number but got voice mail.

"Stefan, its Lara. I need you at the corner of Oxford and Wellington. I need you there ASAP. Bring the car. I have a feeling you'll need it." Lara made it to the location in record time, out of breath. She didn't see Ana at first. Suddenly Ana stumbled into view; her face was pale, and blood was running down her leg, soaking her jeans.

"Lujuanna…? Is th—that you?" Ana's lips were turning blue, her eyes glazing over. Lara could see that Ana was going into shock. Ana swayed, and Lara caught her before she fell to the ground, setting her down.

"I need to have a look at your leg. Stay awake for me, ok? You need to stay awake, Ana." Lara said as she rolled up Ana's pant leg. It wasn't a bullet wound as she'd first thought, but a deep knife wound. It was still oozing blood. A car screeched to a halt nearby and Lara stood, hauling Ana to her feet. Lara then noticed that there were bruises on Ana's cheekbone, jaw, and temple. Stefan ran up to them; him mouth gaped as he saw Ana.

"What the hell?" He said tersely. It was weird seeing the two together. But he was more worried about Ana's appearance.

"We need to get her to the hospital." Lara murmured, her lips hardly moving as a crowd had gathered. She blocked Ana from view. "You bring the car like I asked?"

Stefan nodded and lifted Ana into his arms, reassuring her as she struggled for a moment. She soon calmed down enough for Stefan to be able to set her down in the backseat. Lara blocked Ana and Stefan from view of the crowd with her own body as she jumped into the backseat, beside Ana. The tires squealed as Stefan sped off.

"Which hospital?" He asked. Lara looked at him dubiously.

"The one not tied to the Kejin, of course. Think about it, Stefan, and get with the program." Lara pushed back the seat that Ana was sitting on, so that she was now laying down.

Stefan made the tires squeal again as he made a u – turn, cars honking in his wake. "You think that they had something to do with this? Why?" Stefan asked, bewildered.

Lara took a deep breath before answering. She had to tell the truth. She owed that to herself, to Stefan, and especially to Ana.

Especially her.

"Because… Ana's my sister." Ana blearily nodded agreement. Lara rolled up Ana's pant leg again and taped a bandage to the wound, stemming the flow of blood and returning colour to Ana's cheeks.

"At least you admit it now, Lujuanna." Ana muttered bitterly, rolling her eyes. Stefan had missed the difference in Lara's name, but his cheeks had flushed with colour.

"Wow… now that's embarrassing." Stefan murmured, realizing that he's now dated both Lara and her sister without realizing it. Lara smiled in understanding.

"Its ok, don't worry about it. Just drive." Lara said. She took a look at Ana's leg, to be certain that the bleeding was stopped, or at least slowing down. Ana looked considerably better. Ana lazily waved a hand in front of Lara's face to get her attention. Lara looked at her.

"You might as well tell me about why you've been avoiding me all these years." Ana said. "It'll keep me awake." Even though her tone was soft, Lara could see the anger in Ana's eyes. She was just too weak to sound angry.

Lara looked at Stefan; this involved talking about her job, which Stefan was part of. She caught Stefan's eye in the rearview mirror and he nodded, understanding.

"We've got time. Ana, let me know at any point when you're not feeling well. I'll just circle." Stefan said. Lara took a deep breath, praying for Ana to understand.

"Stefan and I work for the Kejin Organization. It's covert, so no one except agents really knows about it. The Organization was created to control the Blood Hunter population. We… we hunt and kill Vampires. Blood Hunter is their official name. They're real. This is what we do." Stefan nodded in agreement and continued from where she left off.

"It wasn't our choice. We were forced into this. Most agents are. My father, for example. He worked for them, and when he married my mother and had me, I was basically condemned to work for them when I became of age. My mother wanted me to follow in my father's footsteps." Stefan sighed. "But with Lara, it was different. Her mother – your mother – was offered money by the Kejin, paid to have Lara work for them, never to see you mother again. Your mother had to disappear. She was ultimately being paid to keep quiet about something, though I never found out what." Stefan finished. If Lara wanted to talk about her mother's death, that was her job.

"Why do you call her Lara…?" Ana asked Stefan. Lara answered.

"It was the only thing my mother did to protect me that day, or any day for that matter. She gave me a fake name. To the Kejin, I'm Lara McAvoy." Lara said. "I can hardly remember the life Lujuanna led anymore…" Lara said sadly. Stefan's eyes widened in shock.

"Why doesn't he know this?" Ana asked.

"Stefan was one of the two agents sent to get me that day. If he knew my real name… it would have complicated things." Lara said. Ana glared at Stefan.

"So… why were you at my apartment that night?" She asked him.

"A vampire lived next door. I was there to get him under control, but he had to get used to my scent first. That's why I pretended I knew you, and why I mouthed or wrote everything else to you. I didn't want him to make me as an agent or attack you." Stefan said. Lara looked at Ana.

"You may not believe us, but everything we've just told you is real. You can't possibly imagine what I've been through, Ana. Training. Assignments. Torture." Ana still looked skeptical, but also pale. Lara put more pressure on the wound.

"We have company. Black van four cars behind us." Lara looked surreptitiously, and sure enough, saw the van. "I'll just take a detour." Stefan said. He again picked up where Lara left off after a pause.

"It's true Ana, what she said. Every person that gets recruited goes through tests, but they're harder on women, especially when it comes to pain tolerance. The Kejin has to test how much pain they can take before they've had enough, so that if they are in a situation when they're being tortured, they won't succumb and 'betray the organization'. It's basically a torture tolerance exam… test… evaluation – that's the word. Shows how tough you are, so the head of the organization can see how you will cope with assignments and things like that. The Boss said that he'd never seen any female – or male for that matter – last that long on The Chains." Stefan said, looking at Lara.

"How nice." Lara said dryly. Lara looked at her with question in her eyes. Lara swore that she also saw a glimmer of belief there too.

"I had to hang from chains that gradually got hotter until they… well… you can see for yourself." Lara rolled up her sleeves to show Ana the remaining scars. "I lasted almost five hours… the chains that bound me were covered in my blood, my wrists and ankles burnt severely, along with almost every other part of my body. It took two months for me to be able to move normally."

Ana was looking at her sister with something akin to admiration. And fear for what she'd gone through. Stefan suddenly stopped the car and the pain that had gone away when Lara had distracted her came back at Ana full force. She paled again and groaned.

"I lost him. We're here." Stefan parked the car in the emergency entrance to the hospital.

* * *

They stopped at the reception desk and the secretary looked calmly at them all, Ana in Stefan's arms, with Lara beside them.

"My sister got into a fight and got stabbed… I – I think she's in shock. She's allergic to penicillin." The secretary nodded and grabbed the phone, giving an order.

A moment later, a nurse with two orderlies trailing a stretcher between them appeared. Stefan gently laid Ana on the stretcher, and then took the forms the secretary held out.

"Just come by here when you can with the forms filled out." The secretary said. Stefan nodded, and he and Lara followed the nurse and orderlies to a room.

"You two can come in." The doctor said haltingly, and when Lara and Stefan walked in, they could see why he had spoken that way. Ana was fighting the doctor, the orderlies, and the nurse, screaming.

"Let me go, let me go! Help!" Lara had hated hospitals. When she was younger she had to go to one constantly for a condition she had when she was younger, and still had now. Apparently Ana had that same hate (and fear) of hospitals, because of the weeks Lara had to spend in them when they were little. Stefan walked over to her, placing a reassuring hand on her neck and whispering comforting words into her ear. Suddenly, Ana went limp.

Lara walked over to him, anger in her eyes. "What did you just do?" She demanded. Stefan held up his hands.

"Sorry. A pressure point on the neck." Stefan said sheepishly. "It'll hopefully keep her out long enough for the doctor to be able to do his job." Stefan fidgeted with his hands.

The orderlies left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

Lara wanted to be beside Ana, to be there for her. But Lara didn't know how to act around her sister anymore. She couldn't take this. She was so stressed. She was trying to protect her sister, hide this secret from the Kejin, and trying to trust Stefan again. She ran out of the hospital room and into the waiting room, her breath whooshing out of her mouth. She needed air. Stefan sent an apologetic look to the doctor and followed Lara, grabbing her arm to make her face him.

"Sit down." Stefan steered her to a chair and nudged her into it, then gently pushed her head between her knees. "Breathe deeply. It's okay." He rubbed her back, feeling the tremors there.

"I don't know what to do…" She murmured.

"It's not your fault Lara. Whatever you think, it's not your fault. Just the wrong place at the wrong time." But already Lara was shaking her head. Stefan could see her shaking had spread to her arms and hands. Her breath was still whooshing out of her mouth as she covered her head with her hands.

"They did this purposely. She's my sister, and the Kejin's always out to hurt me. Add two and two. You honestly think they wouldn't do something like this?" From the muffled sound f Lara's voice, Stefan knew that she was near tears.

"I'm not stupid. Obviously they could do something like that; I don't doubt it. But they want your cooperation, not your resistance." Stefan said.

"But they want to hurt me. You know that Stefan. They've had it in for me ever since they recruited me. They'll do anything to hurt me." Lara spoke so quietly Stefan almost didn't hear her.

"Look at me." Stefan said, taking out a handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit, which had taken the place of his jacket in his haste to get to Lara. She hadn't sounded herself in the message. He handed it to her when she lifted her head. Her eyes were red, her skin blotchy. Her cheeks were wet with the tears that she had silently shed.

"You've been through more than anyone else I know… you're entitled to show your emotions from time to time, you know." Lara nodded as she dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief.

"I'm scared." She said quietly. Stefan saw how much that admission cost her. She blushed from embarrassment. She avoided Stefan's gaze as she continued. "I'm scared that one day the Kejin will give me an assignment that will kill me, and then I won't be able to protect Ana."

Her face crumpled as tears once again fell silently down her face. "You absolutely cannot say anything about my relation to Ana. If the Kejin finds out… I don't know what'll happen." She leaned against Stefan, who put an arm around her.

"I won't say anything Lara. You can trust me." He said, rubbing his hand up and down her arm soothingly.

"I… I have dreams. Nightmares that I get turned into a vampire. I don't want that to happen." She kept shaking her head. "They seem so real." She shuddered.

"I have them too. I think it comes with the job description." Stefan said. He'd had nightmares for a month straight, and they had been so bad, he'd had to see a therapist. He'd been unable to eat, drink, or sleep for that month. They'd been so real then, too. He didn't get them any more. Hardly.

"I feel so bad about it, not talking to Ana, but I need to keep her safe. Now that's gone completely out the window." She said sadly, wringing her hands; something she only did when she was stressed.

"Stop worrying. It'll only eat you up and take over. Just… you need to stop thinking about it." Stefan said. She was still shaking. Without a word he took her into his arms, her legs draped across his lap. Lara struggled for a moment.

"Shhhh. It's ok." Stefan said. Lara slowly stopped struggling and took the comfort Stefan offered.

"I remember you having those dreams." She murmured.

"And you helped me overcome them, to go see the therapist. I would still be having those dreams if it weren't for you. Just let me help you with this." He murmured against her ear, making their conversation as private as possible. They both fell silent, remembering that month, that horrible time.


	5. Chapter 5

**OOC: before u start this chapter, please be advised that this chapter may be a bit graphic and is not suitable for younger readers. Just to warn you.**

**5**

_**Flashback**_

_Lara was eating dinner with Kelly, the only other Kejin agent that Lara talked to. They were talking about different fighting strategies, but then their conversation veered toward Stefan._

"_I'm worried about him… he hasn't left his room in so long, and when he does, he looks as though he's ready to faint. That can't be good. Its like he's scared to death." Kelly said. Lara mucked with her food, having lost her appetite._

"_He's avoiding me…I have a feeling that he's only going to get worse unless he talks to someone about whatever's bothering him." Lara said. Kelly nodded in agreement._

"_Totally with you there. But how can we get him to listen to us if he's been a caveman for the past month? You have to talk to him, Lara. You're the only one he'll listen to. Everyone knows how he likes… no, he adores you." Kelly smirked as Lara scowled. _

_But then she had a sudden idea, and Lara stood up. Why not go into his room? She had his passkey, and he had hers…_

"_I'll be back, ok?" Lara left the cafeteria._

_**A Dream**_

_A vampire held Lara by the throat, while others he knew and loved were already bloodied and dead at his feet. He could see Lara dragging in ragged breaths, fighting for her life._

"_No! Leave her alone… I'll do anything." He started running towards them, but they kept fading farther away from him._

"_NO!"_

**End of Dream**

_Lara dug out Stefan's passkey from her pocket as she neared his door. As they were assignment partners, and in case there was an emergency, they each had access to the other's room. She opened the door, wondering what the noises she was hearing were as she turned on the light._

"_No! Leave her, leave them all alone." Lara halted at the desperate, anguished tone of his voice. Stefan continued to mumble incoherently as Lara walked the rest of the way to him. She shook his shoulder hard, even though Stefan thrashed like crazy, threatening to fall off the couch. _

"_Wake up, Stefan." Lara said; she put weight on his shoulders so that he wouldn't hurt himself._

"_I'll do anything. Stop… please don't hurt them." Stefan had stopped thrashing, but now his tanned skin was extremely pale. She wondered why the dream was causing him to act like this. _

"_Stefan, wake up." She shook him harder. Suddenly, Stefan screamed. It was a jarring sound that emanated grief and anger, which made Lara flinch and move back slightly before moving back to his side. He needed to wake up._

"_Stefan, god dammit, wake up!" She all but bellowed as she shoved him. He jerked awake in a cry of anguish – or anger, Lara didn't know which. In the last few minutes, Stefan's complexion had paled even further._

"_Stefan, its me, Lara." A blind person was more likely to recognize who she was at the moment than Stefan. His eyes were glazed over, and he blinked furiously, trying to clear his vision. After a few deep breaths, he turned his head to look at her__._

"_Lara? What…?" Stefan could barely string two words together. His voice shook, and his face was damp, especially around the eyes. _

_She held out a couple of tissues, but he ignored them. He just looked at her, as if thinking that she would disappear, as if she was part of a dream. He looked ill, and Lara frowned. Why would a dream affect him so deeply? It was just a dream._

"_Are you… ok Stefan? You're not looking well." Lara said hesitantly, letting the tissues she was holding fall onto the coffee table. She held his wrist, surreptitiously feeling his pulse. It was fast, and the slightest bit jumpy. But it was regular, she noted with relief, even if he was breathing deeply._

"_I need water..." Stefan said weakly. Lara stood up and walked into the kitchen, looking around as she did so. _

_Stefan was normally a clean, organized person, ergo the place he lived in was the same way. But not now. There were clothes strewn all over the place; plates and cups all piled in the sink. There was something wrong, and Stefan's dreams were part – or the cause – of it. She handed him the glass of water and Stefan made room on the couch so that Lara could sit as well. She took his invitation and sat facing him as he drank greedily._

"_Tell me about it." Lara said softly once he was finished. She could see his answer before he said it; the set of his eyes, the sudden tenseness of his body._

"_No, no. No." Stefan said, shaking his head and covered his face with his hands. Lara sighed. _

"_You have to talk to someone, at least. You're hardly eating or drinking, and the colour of your skin could give a few Vampires a run for their money." At the word "Vampires", he had jumped, and then drew his knees to his chest, dragging in ragged breaths. Lara moved forward and sat in the place his legs had just occupied. She placed her hands on his knees. He was shaking. _

"_Talk to me Stefan. You know you can." Lara assured him. Stefan took his hands away from his face, wiping them on his pants to dry them. He then took Lara's hands in his, and Lara noted that they shook. Why would a dream get him all worked up? Stefan didn't meet her gaze.  
__  
"You, everyone I've gotten close to, gets killed, massacred in my dreams," He started quietly, "It happens a lot. But they're just dreams, right? Me worrying –" He laughed a little, trying to lighten the situation. He took a deep breath, "But over the past month or so, those dreams have gotten worse. Vampires, I see them killing you all, instead of just seeing you already dead, like before, I see you all actually get killed, see the life leave the eyes…" He drifted off, but Lara understood. She rubbed her thumbs over Stefan's knuckles soothingly as he continued. _

"_I think it was the Fitzgerald case that started the dreams. It makes sense. They were only babies, and the bastards got a damn kick out of it. Jesus, just babies." Lara could see him going back to it, in his head. That wasn't what he needed right now._

"_Stop it." Lara tightened her grip on his hands, almost making it painful, "Look at me." Stefan raised his eyes to look at hers.  
__  
"Just babies," He said, "And the girl…" Lara flinched as she remembered her. The young woman was pregnant, and the girl's stomach had been slit; the fetus pulled out, the umbilical cord still attached. There had been blood everywhere. Lara and Stefan had been the leading agents on the case._

"_See… it affects you too. Don't tell me it doesn't affect you." Stefan said._

"_Fine. It does affect me," She said, "But the difference is that I don't let it control my life, I don't let it consume me. If you do, as you have let it done, it will eat you up, and the hardest thing you've experienced in life, But apart from that, you've had it easy," She held up her hands, as she saw Stefan's mouth open in protest, "Just listen to me. You maybe haven't had it easy. It obviously hasn't been a walk in a park, but I've had it bad from the start. Remember The Chains? And even before that, my mother hated me, made sure my life was miserable." She felt Stefan sit up and she moved over so they sat side by side. "I'm just better at blocking it out. Please, Stefan… don't let it control you." Stefan looked down at their joined hands._

_"I don't know how to block it. I try not to think about it, but when I sleep…" Stefan shrugged morosely. His shaking hadn't abated. He needed more assurance._

"_We all know our job, Stefan. We won't get killed." She draped a blanket around him. Now he just looked irritated._

"_Do you want to see what I see?" He said; anger in his voice now. He stood up, letting the blanket fall from his shoulders and he walked into another room, coming back out with a large book and plopped it into Lara's lap. She was a bit surprised at his change of attitude.  
__  
"Open it." He said gruffly. Lara discovered that it was actually a sketchbook, not a notebook as she'd first thought. _

_The first couple of pages were sketches of a woman Lara thought was Stefan's mother. But as Lara kept turning the pages, the sketches got more ominous. Vampires, blood. He had coloured some of them, and that only added to the horrific sketches. She turned to the next page and was shocked to find a sketch of herself. In the sketch, a vampire had a hand around her throat, and bloody, mutilated bodies were dead at their feet. She put a hand to her mouth in shock. _

"_When you're in my dreams now, it's always the same one," He pointed to the sketch, "That's what I see, what I saw tonight." His voice was monotone._

"_I would never die like this, Stefan." Lara said, putting a hand on his shoulder._

"_Maybe not. But everyone that works here is doomed to die by Vampires, whether by hands or teeth. Or even worse. To be brought back, forever having to thrive on human blood." His eyes were glazed again, as if in a trance. _

"_Stop." Lara took his hands again. "Do not, do not think about it. You can't, Stefan." He took the sketchbook from her and tossed it onto the nearby table._

"_That is what I see, have seen, for the past month." Stefan sighed wearily. He drank a bit more water. _

"_Lie on your stomach," Lara said softly, but firmly. Confusion filled his face but he did what she asked. Lara started to massage his back, "You're tense… relax." Lara said. She felt him relax. Bit by bit, muscle by muscle. Stefan sighed happily. _

"_Okay, I'm okay now," Stefan pushed himself up, Lara stopped, "Thank you, Lara." He said. Lara shook her head. _

"_Don't thank me yet. You know you can always talk to me, but I…I think you need to speak to a professional." Lara said hesitantly. Stefan looked extremely skeptical. _

"_What like a therapist? No way. I'm not going to talk about this to someone I don't even know." He said._

"_You know Delia. Maybe you can talk to her." Lara said. "You know her, at least."_

"_But –" _

"_You need to speak to someone, Stefan! Someone that can help you." Lara pleaded._

"_Alright, alright." Stefan said. "Let me get changed, and then I'll go talk to Delia." _

_Stefan stood and walked into his room. Lara looked around. His place was normally really neat for a guy, but now it was as dishevelled as he was. She gathered all the clothes she could see in the living room and piled them into a basket. Stefan came out of his bedroom, his looks greatly improved. He stopped in his tracks, a surprised look on his face._

"_It was bothering me… you're usually so neat and organized." She said sheepishly. "Just separate the whites and darks and then put them in the washer when you want to." Stefan nodded and hooked Lara's arm around his elbow._

"_Let's go get something to eat first. I'm starving. Then I'll go see Delia. And thank you." He brushed a kiss across her forehead. _

_"Always happy to help." Lara said, a pinkish tinge to her cheeks. She smiled as they left Stefan's quarters, and she closed the door behind them. _

_**End of flashback **_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: WARNING: graphic scene. Read at your own risk. I warned you.**

**6**

Lara shook herself out of her reverie as a doctor walked toward them.

"Your sister would like to see you both." The doctor said. Lara and Stefan walked back to the room to see Ana sitting upright in the bed.

"So… do you believe me?" Lara asked as she shut the door, leaning against it and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't know…" Ana shrugged. "It seems unbelievable. The stuff in horror movies, you know? Vampires?" She said, still disbelieving.

"If you don't want to believe me, fine. I'm sick and tired of trying to convince you. I'm not going to keep trying." She said wearily. She sighed heavily and tunnelled her fingers through her hair. Stefan sat beside Ana.

"Ana." He began. "Lara's telling the truth. The only reason we lied to you before was to protect you. Do you honestly think that we want you to go through what we have?" Stefan asked her softly. "Besides, we're not even supposed to tell people who we work for. Secrecy for the organization is of the utmost priority." He rolled his eyes.

"I was there when Lara had to do her endurance test on The Chains. It –" Stefan broke off as he saw Lara shaking her head.

"I don't want to hear it. I don't want to go back there again." Lara said. Ana could see the fear in Lara's eyes, and it occurred to her that Lara hardly got scared without good reason. Her sister was tough. Ana was beginning to think that Lara was telling the truth.

"So… you guys really are telling the truth?" Ana asked, looking at Lara specifically.

"What made you change your mind?" Lara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You never get scared… at least not without good reason. You seemed really scared of what you went through. I'm sorry for that." Ana said. Lara shrugged, uncomfortable with the turn of conversation.

"Yeah." Lara's voice drifted off. Stefan could see that Lara was going back to her endurance test at the Kejin in her head. If she didn't want to go back there, she wouldn't, so he did nothing.

**Flashback**

_Stefan and Kane walked up to Lara, who was sitting at a table in the cafeteria with Kelly, an agent that Lara trained with. _

"_Agent McAvoy, you are needed in the training room immediately." Kane said. Lara looked at Stefan, trying to see if his expression would give anything away. But he was keeping it as carefully and deliberately expressionless as possible. Kelly looked from Stefan to Kane. Then she looked at Lara. Realization dawned on her face, quickly replaced by anger._

"_You can't be serious! She just got here only a week ago. I had two months before mine." Kelly said. Lara was confused._

"_These are different circumstances, Connelly." Kane said to Kelly curtly. _

_Lara stood, hand on her hip. "Alright, what's going on…?" She asked. Kane sighed, tired with wasting time._

"_The Boss will tell you what's going on when we get to the training room." Stefan said. Lara could see that Stefan said very angry. A muscle jumped in his jaw. He took Lara's arm and they left the cafeteria._

_Kelly sat at the now empty table, a forlorn expression on her face._

* * *

_The Boss was already there, waiting impatiently. _

_"Let's get started. You're to change into this." He threw an article of clothing at Lara, who thought it looked like a bathing suit. But the only thing was, the material looked extremely thin, just there. The Boss gestured to a window that looked out into the actual training area, which had been transformed into a forest of chains. _

_"You're to hang from those chains for as long as possible." The Boss finished._

_"Fine." Lara walked into the dressing room and slipped on the thin material, leaving her street clothes there as she returned. _

_Kane led her inside the training room, but through a different doorway that was a couple of feet off the ground. As they stopped in the doorway, a portion of the floor rose up to the same height as the door. Pushing Lara ahead of him, they walked until Kane stopped her at the centre of the raised floor._

_"Put your arms above your head." Kane ordered. Lara hesitated for so long that Kane forced her arms up, clasped chains around her wrists, and then did the same loosely around her legs. Lara gasped; the chains were very hot, and slowly getting hotter._

_"Give a yell when you've had enough." Kane smirked as he walked out of the training room. As soon as Kane closed the door, the portion of the floor that was raised began to lower until it became one again. Lara was now hanging solely by the chains. They wouldn't stop getting hotter. They started to burn her skin._

_Other chains that were just hanging appeared to have a life of their own, wrapping themselves around her torso. The thin material that consisted of her bathing suit did nothing to protect her. She hung listlessly and closed her eyes, trying her best to shut out the pain, but willing herself to remain conscious._

_Stefan was pacing inside the observation room, constantly glancing at his watch; counting the hours, minutes, the seconds. He refused to look at Lara, hanging lifeless from those chains, blood covering her arms and legs. But he couldn't help it. He had to keep making sure she was conscious. He looked at his watch again. _

_"She's been like that for almost five hours." Stefan said. "Can't we just stop it here? This is longer than anyone else has lasted." Kane was shaking his head. _

_"She has to tell us when she's had enough." Kane said, resting his hands on the window ledge, looking at Lara. Kane had only lasted three and a half hours. Maybe he had underestimated her. He's have to keep a closer watch on her. He could hear Stefan pacing behind him still._

_

* * *

  
Lara opened her eyes. The pain was harder to ignore now. She felt as if there was a burning heat inside her, getting hotter and hotter. She saw the chains slick with her own blood. She'd lost track of the time, didn't have the strength to ask how long she'd been hanging. She was dizzy, and her vision kept blurring. She was surprised she was still bleeding from her various wounds. She was trying so hard to keep herself from screaming; a strangled sound escaped her throat. _

_"Had enough yet, McAvoy?" The voice was mocking, and she dimly recognized it as Kane's as it boomed over the intercom. _

_She didn't answer Kane, didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing her weak, pathetic voice. Her body shook with the pain she was trying hard not to succumb to. She was clammy, extremely dehydrated and felt very disoriented. She tried to draw enough breath to speak without humiliating herself, but all that came out each time she tried to speak was a strangled sound of pain. _

_"Lara… are you done? Just nod or shake your head." A much nicer voice over the intercom now. It was Stefan. Before Lara could answer, her vision went out completely. _

_"Stop it, NOW!" Stefan shouted. A monitor that was displaying Lara's pulse was humming. The line representing it was flat lining. _

_Her heart had stopped beating._

_Paramedics burst into the viewing room and into the training room, just as the platform was starting to rise. They unclasped Lara's wrists and ankles and set her on the stretcher with unnerving speed; but to Stefan it seemed they were going very slowly. He wanted to shout at them to hurry up. There were five paramedics in all, two of them brought out a compact defibrillator and placed the paddles on Lara's chest. Her body jerked horribly. They did it twice more.  
_

_There was still no pulse_

_The paramedic adjusted the voltage of the shock and placed the paddles on her chest once more. There was a small blip in the flat line on the monitor. Then another. _

_"She's as stable as we're gonna get her. Let's roll her into one of the med rooms!" One of the medics shouted. There was a mask over Lara's mouth and nose; a bag attached to it. A medic was pumping it, helping Lara breathe. _

_"Krieger! Get over here!" One of them shouted. Stefan knew him. Jake used to be an agent, but switched to medic last year. He wanted to help people, not kill them. Stefan hurried over. _

_"Pump this slowly, in time with her breathing, ok?" Jake went to open doors for them on the way as Stefan did what Jake had asked. Stefan forced himself to look at Lara._

_"Oh God." He murmured. There were red angry burns that stood out on the sides on Lara's face, which was clammy. Her eyes slowly opened; they were glazed with pain. _

_"She's awake!"_

_"Take off the breathing mask!" A paramedic shouted back. Stefan did so and grasped Lara's hand, feather- light. _

_"Lara, can you hear me?" He asked her. Lara squeezed his hand a little to let him know. It was the only thing she could do that wouldn't hurt too badly. Tears trailed down her cheeks and her body arched upwards in pain as she screamed hoarsely. The hallway seemed to turn eerily silent, respecting Lara's screams, which reverberated off the walls because of the vast silence._

_"Shhhh, Lara." Stefan managed to get past the lump in his throat to speak. They had stopped moving, now inside one of the medical rooms. _

_Instead of screaming, Lara was sobbing quietly, and that was even worse. He'd never heard Lara cry. He'd heard her scream once or twice, mad at the trainers, but never cry. It was a weakness he doubted she'd ever shown anyone before. He lightly brushed a hand over her hair as the doctor walked in, a nurse behind her. The doctor held a particularly large needle. _

_"I am just going to sedate her. That way I'll be able to fix her burns, but we need to strap her down first." The doctor said. _

_Stefan grimly nodded and tried to hold Lara's arms down, and was greeted with a scream that sounded like bloody murder. The doctor got the straps on Lara's arms with practiced ease, her expression remaining coolly indifferent, and then did Lara's legs herself. The doctor quickly injected the sedative into Lara's arm, and Stefan saw Lara go limp immediately, closing her eyes. The doctor made a shooing motion with her hands. _

_"Go away now. This is not for the male eye. Go!" Stefan left the room, Lara's blood coating his hands. Stefan needed air, and started to walk to walk outside to the front garden. In the periphery of his vision, he saw The Boss following him. Stefan was shaking so much with contained anger, and needed a way to release it. He punched open the first door that he came to. Stefan stormed into the garden and paced along the curved walkway the led to The Boss's offices. _

_"How long did she last?" The Boss asked once he'd caught up with Stefan. _

_"Why don't you ask Kane? Sure he'd be happy to tell you that Lara almost died after five hours!" Stefan shouted bitterly. He spun around. "I hope you're fucking happy. Stay the hell away from her." Stefan stormed back inside, having the small pleasure of slamming the door in The Boss's face._

_

* * *

  
When Lara awakened, pain enveloped her like a warped cocoon. She yelled in pain and instantly felt something cool cover her body, dampening the nightgown she was wearing. It only slightly relieved the suffocating pain. Every breath she took, every move she made, it was as if every nerve in her body was liquid fire. Building up within her, rolling over her in waves, until she was swept into the darkness once more._

* * *

_Stefan and the doctor were just outside Lara's room, watching the nurse inside looking over various monitors and charts. Stefan paced in the hallway. _

_"Every time she wakes up, she screams like she's being tortured. The blanket soaked in ice water only helps her so much. Can't you give her something for the pain?" Stefan demanded. The doctor looked expressionless, indifferent to her patient and to the man that had stayed by her bedside since she was put in the medical room._

_"I'm sorry, Agent Krieger, but nothing can be done to speed up the healing process. We can't give her any drugs because her system is already overshot and drugs will just make it worse. She overdid it. Now all we can do is wait." Stefan faced the window looking into Lara's room, watching the nurse meticulously marking her observations on a clipboard. The doctor placed a comforting hand on Stefan's shoulder, but he shrugged it off. _

_"Just leave her alone. Stay away from her. You're not helping her." He waited for the nurse and the doctor to leave before going inside Lara's room. He'd taken up a silent vigil in her room, waiting for her to wake. He didn't care that he hardly knew her. He wanted to get to know her. Though he'd never admit this to anyone, he was sure of one thing._

_He had feelings for her. _

**A/N: the flashback takes place before Stefan and Lara get together, and this isn't it for the flashback. There will probably be two more chapters devoted to this flashback. I've been quite busy lately so I am so so so sorry that I haven't updated in a long time. CH 7 should be up in a week or so. Maybe sooner. **

**Please R&R! Thanks to all of my readers **


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